Sunday, November 21, 2010

I had heard a lot of about Saf over the years, so when I had a vegetarian friend in town we jumped in a taxi and headed over there...35 pounds later we arrived at Saf in Shoreditch for a vegetarian feast.

Where: Saf - Shoreditch - 152-154 Curtain Road, EC2A 3AT

When: Sunday lunch 3-5pm

What: A restaurant perfect for vegans. It is mainly a raw food restaurant with hardly any dishes heated over 48 degrees

Who: Myself and another vegetarian fox went to scope it out

Food: Some of the dishes have obvious names like pad thai, but don't think they will arrive as you would normally expect. I had the pesto au poivre (cashew cheese, sage pesto, crushed pink peppercorns, dehydrated tomato and balsamic reduction, flaxseed crackers) and he had the pad thai (courgette noodles, enoki mushrooms, mung sprouts, tomatoes, thai ginger, chilli, chipotle and almond sauce). This was then followed by some delectable desserts...chocolate ganache torte and ginger cheesecake

Drinks: Saf does some really good cocktails (all designed by the lovely mixologist Joe Mccanta). As it was a Sunday and I had overindulged the evening before, I chose an apple juice and he chose a pinot grigio

Price: 60 pounds

Service: Despite the restaurant being half empty, the service took a while to kick off. The waitress was slightly weird and vague, the interesting and tasty food made up for her lack of attentiveness

Clientele: Hip Shoreditch types

Ambiance: The restaurant felt more like a cafe

Saw: Stylish East Londoners...mainly couples enjoying a healthy afternoon out

Bathrooms: These were down a set of stairs and weren’t very tidy

Would I go again? Probably not unless I was in the area and was with someone that really wanted to try it. I thought the food was really well presented and tasty, however the overall concept of the restaurant was a bit gimmicky

Also of note: There is a terrace at the rear where you could enjoy alfresco dining in the summer. There is a wellness studio behind the restaurant where they hold regular yoga classes and also they host ocassional cooking classes.